These forms are not easy to fill in and it's hard to know sometimes what they are looking for and what will knock you over the line. DLR are trying to help with a support session but you can always call your local arts officer if you have a question.

On Wednesday the
8th of October, there will be an application writing support session faciltiated
by Kevin Murphy of Voluntary Arts Ireland from 2.30-3.30pm in County Hall, Dún
Laoghaire for active retirement associations and for groups that work with older
people in the county. Please contact Roisin O'Grady on 01 2719530 or
rogrady@dlrcoco.ie for further details.

dlr Artists Network is hosting a
talk on funding, proposals and opportunites on Saturday 4th of October at 11am
in the Kingston Hotel. Please email artnetdlr@gmail.com for further details and
to register your interest in attending this free event.

Sunday, 28 September 2014

Have you ever been to a book launch? They are nearly always free to go to, there will often be wine and always good company. Usually someone will introduce the writer or writers and then they'll read a little from the book and talk about the work. They often take place in very interesting buildings too.Why not pop a long and maybe you'll make a habit of it.

Buy the book too, if you have the cash, won't you? You don't have to but it does keep the publishers in business and the writers in ...pencils.

Acclaimed American poet Tess Gallagher will launch Her Father’s Daughter, Nessa O’Mahony’s third collection of poems, published by SalmonPoetry.

When: Monday 29th September 6.30 All welcome

Where:Irish Writers Centre

In this new collection, Nessa explores the nature of the bonds between fathers and daughters, ties that are eternal and that cannot be dissolved by time, distance or loss. She makes that exploration through poems that combine the autobiographical with the historical as she explores poetically two very contrasting father-daughter relationships from two very contrasting periods of Irish history.

Nessa’s grandfather, Michael McCann, was a quintessential Irish nationalist of the early part of the twentieth century. He fought for the British in World War I, then fought against the British in the Irish War of Independence and finally fought his fellow countrymen in an Irish Civil War. In this collection, Nessa presents a parallel sequences of poems, one relating to her relationship with her own father, whose decline and death she charts with painful honesty, the second exploring the life of her grandfather, a more mysterious figure whose story slowly emerges through her mother's memories, and her own research. The result is a meditation on love and losing and on what is retained through narrative and memory.

Saturday, 27 September 2014

Chaired by Sean Rocks and presented in association with RTÉ Radio One, these discussions will address some of the themes at play in the 2014 festival programme. The panels are open to the public and will be recorded for broadcast on RTÉ Radio One’s Arena.
Admission is free but ticketed. Early booking is advised as seats are limited.

Whose Hamlet is it anyway?

He may be one of the most famous characters in world literature, but he has also proved to be one of the most malleable. For the Victorians, he was a warning against the dereliction of duty; for us today, he might be more recognisable as a stay-at-home arts graduate who doesn’t know what to do with himself. What is it that allows him to be our eternal contemporary?

Venue: Bewley’s Café Theatre

Date: Saturday Sept 27, 4pm

Imagining Australia

The showcase of Australian productions at this year’s festival opens the door on a theatre culture that remains largely unknown to Irish audiences. What can we learn from works written on the other side of the world? Does Australian theatre have lessons for Ireland in how it deals with cultural diversity and a colonial past?

Venue: Bewley’s Café Theatre

Date: Thursday Oct 2, 4pm

Playwriting – making it work, getting it on

How do we identify talented writers with something to say and ensure that their work is staged? How can we ensure that playwrights have sustainable careers in theatre, that their development and risk-taking as writers is encouraged? This panel will focus on the role and opportunities for playwrights in Ireland today, with contributions from playwrights, dramaturgs and Irish theatre companies who develop and present new writing for the stage.

Thursday, 25 September 2014

Here I am reading my poem, Flaming for Leonard, especially written for the Leonard Cohen Celebration with the Poetry Divas at the start of August 2014 in the Liberty Hall Theatre in Dublin.
In September, it was broadcast on Danish National Radio as part of a documentary on Leonard Cohen.

Sunday, 21 September 2014

Estudios Irlandeses is the scholarly journal of AEDEI, the Spanish Association for Irish Studies. It covers a wide range of original work – research essays, interviews, think pieces and reviews – by well-established academics as well as by junior scholars based in different parts of the world (Brazil, Britain, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Spain, Sweden, and the United States).

It comes out once a year.

Estudios Irlandeses invites authors to submit contributions —in either Englishor Spanish— that engage in a critical and original way with aspects of Irish literature, history, arts and the media, for its Issue Nº 10, to be published in March 2015.

Submissions should be sent via email tocontributions@estudiosirlandeses.org not later than December 1st 2014.

Wednesday, 17 September 2014

Deadline: 30th SeptemberEntries may be in Irish or English Poems should not exceed 45 lines and fees Fee: three poems for €10 or €4 for a single poem made payable to "Jonathan Swift Creative Writing Awards".The judge is the award winning Catalan/Tallaght author Maria Wallace. Winners will be notified seven days in advance and must be prepared to read their work if possible at the award ceremony on Saturday the 1st of November at the Heritage Centre in Saggart Co. Dublin. Usual rules about not being published or broadcast apply Typed in plain font Times Roman point 12 single spacing, without decoration or illustration. The entrants name must not appear on the typescript but only on the entry form.

Monday, 15 September 2014

Details: To celebrate the first year of The Caterpillar, an arts &literature magazine for children, we’re looking for a stand-out poem written by an adult for children (aged 7-11) to which we can award a prize of €1,000.
The prize is open to everyone, as long as the work is original and previously unpublished.

The entry fee is €12 per poem, and you can enter as many poems as you like.

The prize will be judged by the publishers of The Caterpillar and The Moth.

Saturday, 13 September 2014

Start to Write and From History to Story: Turning a Passion for
Research into WritingTuesday, 30 September - Tuesday 25
November 2014, 10am-12.30pmwith Yvonne Cullen begin from the end of September, in the National Library's Cafe
Joly.

Yvonne Cullen is an award-winning poet and screenwriter
as well as a writer of prose. To book a
place, contact yvonnesworkshops@gmail.com or phone Yvonne at 086 1701418

Start to Write will get you going as a writer and keep you going. And if the going gets too tough, the nicest cakes and coffee in town are only every a few feet away. Course duration: 10 weeks of 2.5 hour classes. Course fee €250. Start dates: Saturdays, September 27th, Wednesdays October 1st. In From History to Story: Turning a Passion for Research into Creative Writing Yvonne will draw on her nine years' experience researching and writing A Winter Quarters, a book about caravans, travelling shows and home, due out at the end of this year.Course duration: 10 weeks, from 2.30 to 4.30 on 10 Thursday afternoons from October 2nd. Course fee €260.

Yvonne is an award-winning poet and screenwriter as well as a writer of prose. She has been leading writing workshops and writing retreats around Ireland for 24 years.

Thursday, 11 September 2014

I would love to go to this retreat in Anam Cara but it is way out of my price range. Residential, full board.

Led
by the poet Bernard O'Donoghue

A
Week-long Residential Retreat

Arrival:
Saturday, 11 October 2014

Departure:
Saturday, 18 October 2014

"I
grew up in rural North Cork, in a place famous for traditional music and for
poetry in Irish from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. These things led
to deep-rooted interests in linguistic things, and especially literature, both
written and oral. I went to school in Manchester (my mother's place of origin)
when I was 16, and my obsessions from then on were Latin, English literature and
music (including classical music at the Halle). I have lived in Oxford since
1965, and my main inspirations have been medieval literature: Chaucer and Dante
and above all, the shorter poems in Old and Middle English. The Anglo-Saxon
elegies are my model for the perfectly formed lyric poem."

For
many years, Bernard has spent time on and been inspired by the Beara Peninsula.
His Master Class will focus on using such places and time as subject matter
and/or inspiration as he guides participating poets in enhancing their poetic
gifts.

It also includes tours of the area so perhaps it's aimed at poets from abroad.

Drinks Receptionin Strule arts CentreHosted by Chairman of Omagh district Council

8.30 pm

Buffet Supperin Strule Café

9.30 pm

Sam McDonald(Teeling Irish Whiskey)Join Sam for a ball of malt and a bit of craicas he reflects on 'Vice, Spirit andindustry in ireland.'

Sunday 14th September - Strule Arts Centre

11.00 am

Billy RamsellA world of machines, machine managementand communication is at the heart of Cork-born poet Billy Ramsell's second collection ofpoems. The digital signals involved comprisea new life force on the planet, one we havescarcely even begun to comprehend.

11.45 am

Tea/Coffee

12.15 pm

Reading from work in progress byPat McCabe

1.00 pm

Farewell

Cost

Full Weekend Ticket: £85 (€105).Cheques in sterling/euros payable to Omagh District Council.This includes attendance at all sessions, light refreshmentsthroughout, buffet supper on Friday, lunch and buffet supperon Saturday and a choice of the bus tour or the writingworkshop. It does not include the cost of accommodation.

Friday, 5 September 2014

The programme for the Red Line Festival in Dublin South is announced. There are lots of events but my recommendations are:

Tuesday 14th Oct
POETRY PLEASE! POETRY CIRCLE
with Enda Wyley
3.00pm – 4.30pm
Whitechurch Library, Rathfarnham
Booking @ 01 493 0199
Admission Free
Enda Wyley is an award winning poet and children’s writer. She has published four collections of poetry, and her new collection is due to be published this September. During her workshop Enda will inspire and encourage participants to look at poetry by established poets, create new work and to share their writing with class members … an inspiring afternoon for all poets!
Places limited; book early to avoid disappointment!

Wednesday 15th Oct

STONES OF DUBLIN: A HISTORY OF DUBLIN IN TEN BUILDINGS
with Lisa-Marie Griffith
7.00pm
County Library Tallaght
Booking @ 01 462 0073; talib@adublincoco.ie
Admission Free
In ten of Dublin’s most historic buildings, we encounter the great periods of building activity, the people involved in their construction and the institutions that inhabited them. Behind the façades is the story of Dublin. Bringing together the story of these landmark buildings, Lisa takes us on a wonderful journey through the shifting social, political and cultural history of Ireland’s capital.
Lisa Marie Griffith is the Co-ordinator of the Cultural Heritage Studies Programme at the National Print Museum in Dublin.

Thursday 15th Oct
RED LINE POETRY COMPETITION PRIZE-GIVING CEREMONY AND READINGS
with special guest Nessa O'Mahony
6.30pm
RUA RED Café
Booking at 01 451 5860; boxoffice@ruared.ie
Admission Free
The competition winners of our annual poetry competition will be announced and invited to read their poems. The event will include a reading by special guest, competition judge Nessa O’Mahony. Having spent 15 years in journalism and public relations, Nessa was one of the first writers in Ireland to complete a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing in 2007. She teaches creative writing with the Open University and has published two collections of poems and a verse novel.

#READWOMEN 2014
with Eileen Casey, Valerie Sirr and Geraldine Mills in conversation with Sue Hassett
8.15pm
Loose End Studio, Civic Theatre Tallaght
Booking at Civic Theatre Box Office:
Book Online or Tel 01 4627477; boxoffice@civictheatre.ie
Admission €8/€6
Are literary women writers undersold and undervalued by the current literary universe? In 2014 a small American literary journal vowed to cover women writers for a full year. Then, artist Joanna Walsh’s #readwomen2014 project became a popular meme on social media. Join three Hennessy award winning writers, Valerie Sirr, Geraldine Mills and Eileen Casey in this lively debate as they assess and attempt to redress male writers’ dominance in the
literary world. The event is facilitated by local writer Sue Hassett

Thursday, 4 September 2014

Tuesday, 30 September -
Tuesday 25 November 2014, 10am-12.30pmJust noticed this is a mid week morning. So adult education but only if you're not at work. Or minding children. Hm. Not very impressive.

Anyway, if you are of that ilk, and have €195 to spend. here's the low down.

Through a series of eight lectures, students will engage
with poetry, the short story, the novel and drama in examining the contributions
of Yeats, Joyce, Beckett and Heaney to Irish and world literature. Classes will
focus on key texts to investigate the aesthetic achievements of their work and
its lasting influence.To book a place, register at www.ucd.ie/adulted or contact UCD Adult Education Centre on 01-7167123.Fee
€195.

There's also

Living in the Modern World: ‘Modernism’ - the twentieth century’s soul

The energy of the early twentieth century was reflected in brilliant literature: James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, TS Eliot and in new forms of art: film, jazz and architecture. ‘Living in the Modern World’ is a course which enables students to examine the historical and social change that inspired some of the greatest writers and artist of the twentieth century. Students will investigate and understand what Modernism was about and will learn to recognise and understand its various styles and characteristics and to trace their development by some of the most famous writers of the era. Time will also be given to how Modernism influenced music, film, painting, architecture. No previous knowledge or skills will be required beyond curiosity, enthusiasm and an interest in reading.